Contact Energy has filed resource consent applications for its proposed Te Mihi geothermal power station, north of Taupo.
The 225MW plant, announced in February, will generate enough electricity for more than 200,000 homes.
The power station could be operating by 2011, and would eventually replace the 50-year-old Wairakei
geothermal power station.
Contact chief executive David Baldwin said the Te Mihi project would be able to generate 40 per cent more electricity than the Wairakei station, but would not require any more geothermal fluid than that which is already permitted by Contact's recently granted Wairakei resource consents.
The Te Mihi station is part of Contact's plan to invest up to $2 billion in renewable generation over the next five years.
It plans to file resource consent applications next year for another geothermal power station at Tauhara, and will soon be making announcements on a wind farm plan.
- NZPA
